Manchester City and Pere Guardiola ready to increase stake in Girona FC to 96% – report

They already own 88.6% of Girona FC between them, but the Manchester City and Pere Guardiola alliance are set to increase their stakes in the La Liga club, Cadena SER reports.

The City Football Group, referred to as simply Manchester City in Spain, and Girona Football Group are expected to increase their capital to 96% imminently, which will give them 48% each. That is important because 50% or higher being owned by the CFG could cause issues were Girona to qualify for European competition, being part of the same entity as Man City.

Only 4% will remain in the hands of other shareholders, meaning the Catalan club will be pretty much under the complete control of City and Pep Guardiola’s brother, who are working together on this project.

The takeover of Girona has perks for both the club and the buyers. A club with a small fanbase – averaging just 5,556 per game last season – the benefits of promotion and investment, meaning big signings, are already showing, with 9,748 turning up at the Estadi Municipal de Montilivi for their first home game of the season against Málaga on Saturday.

Girona will receive some of Manchester City’s best talents not quite ready for the first team, as the loans of Douglas Luiz, Aleix Garcia and Pablo Maffeo have shown. In addition to that, City used their wealth to sign the Austrian Bundesliga’s top scorer, Larry Kayode, and sent him immediately on loan to Girona. In turn, City have a high-level league in which to develop some of their best prospects, much like NAC Breda, who are now in Holland’s Eredivisie.

Given that they are not the most well-supported club and never played in Spain’s top flight this season, there is very little moral obligation to the takeover in Spain, and the increasing influence of the CFG can only be seen as a good thing for the modest club from Catalonia.